


to be honest

by lesmiserablol



Series: Zukka Week 2021 [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Birthday Party, Getting Together, M/M, Soulmates, Surprises
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-23 10:48:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30054309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesmiserablol/pseuds/lesmiserablol
Summary: This? Standing in front of Sokka and finding himself completely at a loss for words? This is new.Well, not the part about being at a loss for words—that wasn’t so new around Sokka. His best friend slash roommate has rendered him speechless many times over the years, more frequently now that Zuko is very aware of the gooey romantic feelings that he has for Sokka.No, the thing that is new about this situation is staring into Sokka’s eyes and finding himself incapable of lying.Which can only mean one thing.(or, a soulmate au where you can't lie to your soulmate)
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Zukka Week 2021 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2211507
Comments: 33
Kudos: 346





	to be honest

**Author's Note:**

> Zukka week, day two! This one is for the prompt of soulmates <3

Zuko is a terrible liar. 

Multiple people have told him this throughout his life. He used to think that Azula and her friends were just unnaturally good at lying, so anything less than that was considered “bad”, but the proof just piled up from then on out.

Like the time he had to tell his Algebra teacher that he left his homework at home when in reality, it was sitting unfinished in his backpack, completely forgotten as he had stayed up the night before to finish the book that the literature teacher only asked them to read the first two chapters of. His math teacher had just raised her eyebrows and Zuko had sighed and told her the truth, realizing how unconvincing he sounded even to his own ears.

His uncle can see right through each and every lie, but sometimes he’s too kind to press Zuko about it. Whenever he asked Zuko about his love life in the early years of high school, Zuko turned red and stammered out something about some cute girls in class and Iroh just smiled and nodded. Then at random times he would drop lines that made it abundantly clear that he supported Zuko no matter what and Zuko was free to love whomever he pleased and so on and so forth until Zuko came out to him junior year.

His friends picked up on his tells over the years (“You’re biting your lip...you fell asleep during the movie, didn’t you?”). Over the dinner table Azula loved teasing him by singing “you’re lying” in Japanese and Zuko would glare at her while Iroh would change the topic. He learned that acting was different than lying and found it easier to perform in front of a hundred strangers on stage than it was to admit that he had never seen the Star Wars movies to his group of friends.

He knows all this. He has had experience with all of this.

But this? Standing in front of Sokka and finding himself completely at a loss for words? This is new. 

Not the part about being at a loss for words—that wasn’t so new around Sokka. His best friend slash roommate has rendered him speechless many times over the years, more frequently now that Zuko is very aware of the gooey romantic feelings that he has for Sokka.

No, the thing that is new about the situation is staring into Sokka’s eyes and finding himself incapable of lying.

Which can only mean one thing.

“Zuko?” Sokka asks, verbally, and then he signs Zuko’s name, glancing at the left side of Zuko’s head as if looking for his hearing aid.

“Sorry,” Zuko says quickly. “I can hear you.”

“No worries. Did you hear what I asked?”

Zuko tries to say something along the lines of, _“No, I didn’t, could you repeat that?”_ but it’s a lie, so instead what comes out of his mouth is, “Yes, but you caught me off guard and I was too distracted to answer.”

Sokka looks slightly confused and Zuko feels mortified, but luckily Sokka just repeats himself. “I asked if I could come inside the apartment. Is everything alright?”

As if on cue, there is the loud sound of something falling in the kitchen, and they both wince.

“Is someone inside?” Sokka asks.

 _It’s probably just Druk, I gave him some catnip and now he’s going crazy._

“Katara and Aang are inside,” he says instead. In fact, Katara was the one who had heard Sokka’s whistling and had shoved Zuko out the door and told him to get rid of her brother ASAP.

Sokka looks even more confused. “Katara told me she was working all day today.”

It’s Sokka’s twenty third birthday, of course Katara isn’t working all day, she and Zuko were the ones who decided to organize the surprise party in the first place. But Zuko cannot tell Sokka this, and luckily, Sokka moves on before Zuko has to figure out a way to indirectly respond to that without ruining the surprise.

“I just need to grab my laptop, I left it on my desk,” Sokka says slowly. 

“I’ll get it for you,” Zuko says immediately, disappearing back into their apartment before Sokka can say anything else. 

“Is he gone?” Katara whispers from where she is standing on a chair to hang up streamers across the ceiling.

“Not yet,” Zuko answers, rushing to Sokka’s room and grabbing his laptop and charger. He tries to not open the front door too widely as he slips back into the hall, but judging by the way Sokka is peering over his shoulder and then grinning as the door closes behind him, he wasn’t successful.

“What’s going on in there?” Sokka asks, smiling widely, and Zuko has the feeling that he has already figured it out. “Is that for me?”

Zuko gives one last valiant effort to lie, and is surprised when his mouth opens, but is horrified when the words that come out do not match the words he had prepared in his mind.

“We planned a surprise party for you tonight,” he says, then immediately slaps his free hand over his mouth.

Sokka looks surprised (which was kinda the goal, he’s just...several hours too early). He blinks at Zuko, then his face splits into another wide grin.

“Really? That’s so sweet!”

Zuko hands over the laptop and then runs both of his hands through his hair. “I am so sorry, I just completely spoiled that for you, I understand if you’re upset with me.”

“I could never be upset with you, Zuko, especially not over something like this. I promise to even act surprised when I see it tonight,” Sokka says.

Zuko smiles tentatively. “Alright. Um, I’ll see you later then?”

“Right! I should get to the library, I have a study group soon. Thanks for the laptop.” Sokka gives him a wink and then he’s gone, leaving Zuko standing in the hallway to panic in peace for a few moments before he takes a deep breath and walks back inside.

“He’s gone,” he announces before Aang or Katara can ask.

“Finally,” Katara sighs. She has moved on to sitting on the couch and blowing up blue balloons. 

“Was he suspicious at all?” Aang asks, setting a timer for Sokka’s cake and glancing over at Zuko.

The lie comes easily to Zuko’s tongue in a way that was impossible around Sokka, but he doesn’t bother with it anyway. He knows Katara and Aang will see right through it, so he avoids looking at either of them as he says, “I might have...told him that we are throwing him a surprise party.”

“You what?” Katara asks loudly, accompanied by a loud pop as she squeezes the balloon in her hand a bit too tightly.

“Zuko, I don’t know how many surprise parties you have thrown before…” Aang starts, not unkindly, and Zuko shakes his head.

“I didn’t want to tell him!” Zuko insists. “But he was suspicious and when I tried to lie...it, uh, didn't work.”

He looks meaningfully at Aang and then Katara, but it’s obviously not clicking for them quite yet.

“Listen, I know you’re not the best liar, but you couldn’t have said something, _anything_ to throw him off?” Katara asks.

“No, Katara, I mean, I could not lie to Sokka,” he says carefully. 

He watches realization dawn on her face, and then Aang says “oh” as he connects the dots as well.

He knows the two of them are familiar with the feeling. They have been dating for years, and Zuko knows they can’t lie to each other. They know exactly what it is like to look at your soulmate and try to lie to them only to fail. Katara looks completely shocked while Aang’s grin starts to widen.

“Zuko! That’s amazing!” he says, coming out of the kitchen and sitting next to Katara on the couch. He takes her hand. “Finding your soulmate is really special.”

“So…” Katara starts, still processing the news. “You’ve known Sokka for what, three, four years? You’ve never tried lying to him in the past?”

Zuko shrugs. “You guys know how bad I am at lying. I just never bother with it anymore, so I guess not.”

“And does Sokka...” Aang looks nervous. “Can he lie to you? Do you know?”

Zuko frowns. Has Sokka ever lied to him? Not that he can think of. Ever since they met each other as strangers forced to share a room, they have been friends and have only gotten closer with time, and Zuko can’t think of why Sokka would lie to him. 

Even if Sokka is able to lie to Zuko, would that change how Zuko feels about him? No, of course not. He has had feelings for Sokka for a while now without realizing Sokka is his soulmate, and if he isn’t Sokka’s soulmate in return, that’s okay with him. There are plenty of couples who aren’t soulmates who still have great relationships, and Zuko doesn’t need proof from the Spirits that he and Sokka are meant to be together to confirm that his love for his roommate is real.

“I don’t know, honestly,” he answers.

“Listen, as happy as I am for you about this exciting development, we only have three hours until Sokka is supposed to finish his nerdy study group thing and the party starts, and someone needs to watch the cake while the other two go to the store to get the rest of the snacks,” Katara says quickly.

Zuko nods, feeling determined. He can focus on the preparations for the rest of the afternoon, this revelation is no big deal, he can go without thinking about it nonstop for a while. 

(Well. He’s never been good at lying to himself, either.)

* * *

“Surprise!” 

True to his word, Sokka acts surprised when he steps into the apartment that evening. Aang, Katara, Zuko, Toph, Yue, and Suki were all waiting for him and jumped out of their hiding spots after Sokka closed the front door.

“Aww, you guys!” Sokka says, looking sincerely touched as he takes in all the decorations, his eyes lingering on the table of food. 

“Happy birthday, Sokka!” Suki beams, and there is a chorus of birthday wishes that make his smile grow.

“Thank you guys, this was so sweet of you,” he says. 

Toph cheers loudly as Katara starts a playlist of Sokka’s favorite songs and everyone is drawn like a magnet to the food table. There is a large variety of Sokka’s favorite snacks and they all eat too much and lounge around the apartment, talking instead of dancing. Someone brings out the alcohol and Zuko only has enough to feel a pleasant buzz settle over him. They play karaoke until the neighbor below them bangs on their ceiling with a broom to tell them to quiet it down, and they settle for breaking out some games that end up being almost as loud as the karaoke as they all get way too invested and start shouting.

Sokka tries to insist that he can clean up the mess, that everyone can go home now, but they roll their eyes at him and help pick up anyway and make quick work of it. They leave some streamers up just to brighten things up in the living room a bit, and by the end of the night, Zuko plops down on the couch. He immediately regrets it when he realizes how much he does not want to get up to go to his bed now.

The idea of getting up becomes even less appealing when Sokka closes the door on the last of their guests and collapses next to his roommate, snuggling up close to Zuko’s side.

“Did you have a good birthday?” Zuko asks.

“Of course I did! It was the best. I was with my favorite people in the world, I ate some good food, what’s not to love?” Sokka asks. “Plus, I got some pretty cool presents.”

He pulls away from Zuko so he can meet his eyes, and he laughs when Zuko snorts.

“I promise I won’t be offended if you throw it out behind my back. I just thought it was funny. Your real present got delayed in the mail, so I had to improvise,” Zuko tells him.

“Why would I want to throw it out? A poster of The Boulder, only the greatest pro wrestler ever? That was so cool! I can’t believe you remembered me telling you that he was my bisexual awakening,” Sokka says.

Zuko smiles at the ceiling. “It was hard to forget, that was a pretty amusing story. But seriously, you can be honest with me, if it’s too cheesy that’s okay.”

“It’s not too cheesy. And I’m always honest with you,” Sokka says, his voice a little quieter than before.

Zuko’s heart clenches as he remembers his realization from earlier that day. With all the excitement of the party, he tried to distract himself from thinking about it too much so he could have a good time, but now the weight of it hits him again. He nervously looks back at Sokka, who is watching him expectantly. 

“Yeah?” he says. “What a coincidence, I’m always honest with you, too. That’s why I didn’t lie to you about the party, I...I couldn’t lie to you.”

Sokka’s eyes widen slightly. “You didn’t, or you couldn’t?”

“I tried. I couldn’t.”

“Well I can’t lie to you either, so you know I’m being honest when I say I had a great time tonight and I loved your present,” he says. 

“Are you saying…” Zuko trails off, hope and fear stopping him from finishing the rest of his sentence. 

Sokka takes a deep breath. “Not that it makes a difference, because I already realized I had feelings for you a while back, but I recently discovered that I also can’t lie to you. I’ve wanted to ask you out, soulmates be damned, but I kept chickening out. So here is me being honest. I think you’re incredible, and beautiful, and even if you don’t think you’re very funny I think you’re hilarious. Tonight when I blew out my candles, I wished that we would go on a date. So what do you say?”

Zuko frowns. “I thought you can’t tell anyone your wish or else it won’t come true?”

Sokka rolls his eyes. “Is this you rejecting me?”

Zuko pretends to think it over, and Sokka punches his arm. “Ow! I'm kidding. Seriously, Sokka, I have spent ages hoping you would make the first move and ask me out. So I would love to help make your wish come true.”

Sokka grabs his hand. “ _You_ are my wish come true.”

“And _you_ are a giant sap,” Zuko laughs.

“But you still want to kiss me, right?”

Zuko looks at him, and he has never been more honest in his life as he responds, “Yeah. I do.”

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr](https://bisexuallsokka.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
